Olivia Nguyen3 said:btw.. can I bring my own parts somewhere, or do they only install what I buy from them? And is it actually worth using my old components, or is the performance gap negligible? If the difference in $167 is significant, I’d probably just go all new to avoid worrying about potential hardware failure down the road... :/
You could bring your own case, hard drive, and RAM—you might even find a shop that will throw in the installation for free if you're lucky (places like Micro Center or Best Buy might help you out, though some specialized shops will definitely charge you for labor). Just give them a call first to check their policy.
You have to handle the Win installation yourself.
If you're looking at a case within that budget, I'd suggest a Zalman Z3 (roughly $30-$$117), a 1TB hard drive is about $167, 4GB of DDR3 RAM is around $23-$$100, and a power supply is roughly $40. You can cover those specific components with what you already have.
Honestly, I can't see any connection issues from here; the images you posted are way too small to tell. Just check the connectors on the soldering iron—if that red wire from the power supply goes straight to the iron, you should be all set. If it weren't working properly, you’d be looking at something like this thick of a cable . The RAM is fine; DDR3 is DDR3, so there's really nothing to argue about there.
Olivia Nguyen3 said:The HDD was a Samsung HD753LJ I'd love to just keep it in the computer since everything is on there, including my Windows setup, so I wouldn't have to reinstall anything just plug it in and get to work 😁
It doesn't quite work that way. 😁 You're going to have to do a clean reinstall. On the bright side, this PC is actually much better (and newer) than I originally thought. You could potentially stick with the DDR3 RAM; just find a motherboard with four slots and add some more capacity—maybe two 2GB sticks or one 4GB stick to leave some breathing room. Check if those burners still have available SATA ports or if the cable is already plugged into the only one.
To figure out what’s actually worth keeping, I'm going to need a full list of your current specs 🙂 . Are you looking for a new monitor? If not, what resolution are you running right now (look up the specific model)? What about your mouse, keyboard, or speakers? Also, are you planning to pay cash or use financing?
Since that rig is roughly 7 or 8 years old, the only thing potentially worth saving is the HDD (assuming it's SATA), though honestly, given its age, I wouldn't count on it. You might be able to reuse the case—check if it's an mATX or ATX form factor and send me the model name or a photo—and maybe the power supply if it's SATA (though in my opinion, there's a 70-30 chance it isn't). If you happen to have an aftermarket cooler, that's about as far as we can go.
crimsonstag84 said:At Links, they're pretty much the cheapest option in the States😬
I noticed yesterday they were advertising some sort of "web price," but I'm not sure what the fine print entails. Honestly, you're much better off checking Nabavka.net instead.
They're solid, especially considering the price from that link, but honestly, I think those Dell models are overpriced. Most of those IPS panels are actually made by Samsung anyway. You get the same 3-year warranty as you would with a Samsung (though not through that specific retailer), but you deal with what people call an overly aggressive coating on the screen, frequent screen bleeding depending on which unit you grab, and they're just more expensive than the competition. For about $1,200, you can already find those supposedly "upgraded" AH-IPS or AD-PLS panels.
If you look at these threads regarding 23" and 24" monitors, you'll find plenty of Dell users venting their frustrations if you care to look. Personally, unless you absolutely need a pivot function, I’d consider an ASUS VX series. A 5-year warranty is a 5-year warranty, plus you're getting a higher-tier model; for that budget, you won't find better quality. Besides, shipping is only going to cost you about $13
Just make sure to stick with Best Buy or similar big-box stores—they offer a solid 5-year warranty. Plus, the VX series from ASUS is generally a step up in quality compared to their VS lineup.
I’ve updated my previous post above. Honestly, nobody should be looking at the Kingston V300 anymore when there are so many better options out there.
By the way, it's not a requirement for the cooler to overhang the RAM. Not everyone uses high-profile sticks, and even if it does cover them, you aren't actually filling four slots. Plus, it doesn't transfer heat to the memory, and frankly, almost nobody deals with RAM temperature issues anyway. Long story short, you're just making things more complicated for no reason.😬
Upgrading to Broadwell is honestly just an illusion. People talk about two specific chips, the i7-5775C and the i5-5675C, which some might even call "weaker" than the current K-series models because of the lower clock speeds—though they do offer a smaller manufacturing process and better integrated graphics. I say "weaker" in quotes because the difference in clock speed won't actually impact your real-world apps or gaming performance; that’s mostly just synthetic benchmark talk. So, the bottom line is: would you rather upgrade to the i7 4790k or the i7-5775C?
Let me know when you're ready to buy, because a lot of what you're looking at isn't worth the money. Everything from liquid cooling setups to those V300 SSDs—which are noticeably slower than the competition—this is a much smarter choice for roughly the same amount of cash.
The other day, that 6300 was sitting at about $260 I’m positive, which makes it a steal compared to what you’d find at Best Buy where it’s usually $267. I don't get why that sounds so shocking to you; Uzi is constantly shifting their prices because they can't keep anything in stock, and back in the day, it was closer to $223 (you remember those times when the 8320 was under a grand). For $300, you can always hunt down a used i5 3350p, though you'll definitely have to keep an eye out for a good deal
I think I saw a Casio fx-6300 listed for around $70 or so on Uzishop the other day. $200 Honestly, that’s about the absolute best price anyone should even bother hunting for—on other forums, people were valuing them closer to $150 🤣 . On another note, if you're looking at a 7870 equipped with a Tahiti chip (the same one found in the 7950 and 7970), then it actually outperforms even the most high-end 270X models.
Adam Moore3, would you actually drop $33 on that cooler if reviews suggest it performs a few degrees worse than the Freezer 7? I’m also wondering how it stacks up against the LC-CC-95. For about 150-$53, you can grab the much better LC-CC-120, and for around $50, you could even find a used Hyper 212 . Look, if you add up all those high-end prices, you're looking at nearly $833—sure, he'll want more, but honestly, most people on PCPartPicker would probably value his GPU at less than $33. There's a massive gap between what people ask for on Craigslist and what they actually get. Most of the listings you see sitting there forever are overpriced junk; the ones with fair market prices sell instantly, but people miss them and end up thinking everything is expensive. If he doesn't get the offers he's dreaming of, he needs to realize that whatever he actually receives is the baseline, and anything extra is just a bonus.
CPU: $500–$650 $183 (new ones go for over $120, though they used to dip below $233) RAM: $67 (a fresh 6GB kit hits about $123 at Best Buy, whereas 2–3 years ago you could grab 8GB for $100) GPU: If it’s a standard card, expect $700–$$250; if it has a Tahiti chip, look at $800–$$283 PSU: Up to $83 Cooler: $50–$$23 max—honestly, that’s weaker than a basic Cooler Master unit. Just budget $50 for a new one that actually performs better than a budget brand, or if you spend $80–$$33, you can snag some newer Kepler models or an LC-CC-95 Case: $50—it’s a total waste of money given how much better the competition is in that price bracket when buying new HDD: Maybe $67 for both Motherboard: Bottom of the barrel—$67
Look, you can always try to push for more, but these are the actual realistic prices. Some people might even estimate even lower
The VG4 is basically ASRock's most budget-oriented, stripped-down option. Then you have the DGS series—if I recall correctly, those 1155 socket and FM2 boards had pretty high failure rates too. Look, it’ll function fine if that's what you pick, but honestly, both are a bad value compared to an MSI board that comes with a solid 3-year warranty from $107.
Now this is the true best-buy among the budget Intel options. This HDS model includes a USB 3.0 header (meaning you can actually use a USB 3.0 case, not just the rear ports), features a slightly better voltage regulation stage, and provides an HDMI port for integrated graphics—something the VG4 lacks. Plus, it should carry a 3-year warranty, just like the boards from MSI, Asus, or Gigabyte.
EDIT
And if you're trying to buy this stuff in Canada, just look at these prices:
HD7950, B85-HD3, and RAM is just as cheap as it is at the local Best Buy click
Roger Mitchell4 said:An Xfx R9 280. Everything is available except the GPU (I'll update once it's back in stock). We were talking about how the cheapest possible H81M motherboard would work for a non-K i5... The whole package comes to $1.75 without the 8% discount, unless you pay in installments.
You could do that, but why settle for the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel option? At least throw in another $1.00 for this MSI model, and you’ll get an extra year of warranty coverage.
Which R9 280 are we talking about? Take a look at the top right corner to see if all those options are actually available. If I were you, I’d aim for a higher-quality motherboard, like this one here.
That installment plan price doesn't include the 8% discount—so, in my opinion, the whole setup is priced quite a bit above $1800 what it should be.
I can't see anything through your shopping cart; you'll need to upload an actual screenshot since that cart view is private to you.
1 x AMD FX X6 6300 3.5Ghz (4.1GHz) box 1 x Gigabyte 970A DS3P, AM3+ 1 x CPU Cooler LC-CC-120, Intel/AMD, 120mm, PWM 1 x Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury,1866MHz, 8GB(2x4GB)Black 1 x Seagate HDD, 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6, 64M 1 x Zalman Z3, USB3.0 black, 3x120mm 1 x Fortron Hyper 500W, 80+ 1 x XFX Radeon R9 270A 2GB 256Bit DDR5 1 x LG GH24NSC0 sat Bulk Black 24x
Total: $1649 it futura
Check back in 9 days for a final quote; right now, we're missing some key components at our downtown location.
Looking at Company of Heroes 2, you can clearly see how much performance varies depending on the specific title. It’s actually quite striking that the GTX 960 clocks in about 30-35% higher than the GTX 760—check out this benchmark link for more details. Hopefully, some driver updates for the 7xx series will help bridge that gap a bit.
As it stands, the game runs just fine on a dual-core setup.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world title and surprisingly enough, it does not require a high-end CPU to shine. In order to find out whether the game scales well on multiple CPU cores, we simulated a dual-core and a quad-core CPU. And to our surprise, even our simulated dual-core system was able to push constant 60fps on almost Ultra settings.
